The officers under An Tianzuo made a few more tries, but the outcome was the same every time. No matter what kind of Companion Beast it was—regardless of its attributes or type—as long as it approached the River of Forgetfulness’s smoke, it would immediately plummet into the river without a trace. It wouldn’t even cause a ripple.

  It was useless for the Companion Beasts to attack the River of Forgetfulness. They all vanished the moment they entered the river. It was unknown how deep the River of Forgetfulness was.

  It was impossible to even enter the River of Forgetfulness, much less search for the Three-Lives Stone in the river.

  Zhou Wen and Li Xuan also summoned some low-level Companion Beasts and made them attempt to approach the River of Forgetfulness. However, just like An Tianzuo and company’s attempts, no Companion Beast could survive in the River of Forgetfulness.

  Zhou Wen listened attentively and used Great Brahma to strengthen his senses. He looked into the River of Forgetfulness, but he didn’t discover anything.

  “Overseer, let me give it a try.” An officer stood up and saluted An Tianzuo.

  Zhou Wen and Li Xuan glanced at the officer and saw that he was wearing a military uniform and a military coat. He wore a gas mask and a military cap.

  Zhou Wen and Li Xuan had some impression of this officer because his attire was very odd. They didn’t know what he looked like or what his name was.

  “Are you confident?” An Tianzuo asked the officer.

  “I noticed something. I can give it a try,” the officer answered.

  “Proceed.” An Tianzuo nodded slightly.

  The officer saluted slightly before walking towards the River of Forgetfulness. However, to Zhou Wen’s surprise, he didn’t summon his Companion Beast. Instead, he walked towards the River of Forgetfulness himself.

  He walked very slowly. It could be described as being very careful, but for him to step into the River of Forgetfulness was clear madness.

  Previously, when they used Companion Beasts to scout a path, a Mythical Companion Beast had been sucked into the River of Forgetfulness without any resistance. For the officer to walk in alone was no different from suicide.

  The moment the person stepped out, his military uniform seemed to be pulled by some powerful invisible force. It was ripped from his body and dropped down into the River of Forgetfulness along with his military boots, military cap, and mask.

  As for the officer’s body, it floated above the River of Forgetfulness without falling.

  However, Zhou Wen and Li Xuan were alarmed when they saw the officer’s appearance.

  The officer’s body no longer looked like a human’s. There was no flesh or blood on it. What they saw was a humanoid gray smoke. As he moved, the smoke ebbed, making him look extremely strange.

  Zhou Wen knew that this officer wasn’t a monster. He had only used the Mythical Serum created from a special dimensional creature. His body had mutated to a higher level, allowing him to be in such a state.

  The smoke-like officer’s feet had now stepped onto the River of Forgetfulness, but he wasn’t sucked down. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

  “What dimensional creature’s Mythical Serum did this person use? How interesting,” Li Xuan said as he looked at the officer in surprise.

  An Sheng explained, “That’s Commander Jia Nong of 413 Task Force. The Mythical Serum he used was created by a strange Mythical creature that broke out of Chess Mountain. His body mutated severely, but he also obtained a very special Mythical power. From the looks of it, his strength can restrain the power of the River of Forgetfulness.”


  “Overseer, I’ll go down and take a look.” Jia Nong realized that things were as he had guessed. The River of Forgetfulness’s strange power was useless against him, so he sought An Tianzuo’s permission.

  “Safety first,” An Tianzuo said.

  “Yes,” Jia Nong answered and was about to fly down the River of Forgetfulness.

  However, he suddenly saw yellow smoke billowing in the distance of the River of Forgetfulness. It was as though something was burrowing beneath. Furthermore, the churning fog was approaching Jia Nong at an extremely fast speed.

  Jia Nong assumed a battle stance, but An Tianzuo suddenly shouted, “Jia Nong, return!”


  Upon hearing An Tianzuo’s order, Jia Nong retreated and left the River of Forgetfulness.

  At the instant he retreated, the yellow smoke exploded where he was standing. A blood-colored palm extended out.

  Just one finger of the blood-colored palm was more than a meter long. The huge palm seemed to be condensed from blood. With a grab, a terrifying sonic boom sounded in the air.

  After grabbing nothing, the blood-colored palm quickly retreated to the River of Forgetfulness and vanished in the blink of an eye.

  Jia Nong felt a lingering fear. Although his body wasn’t afraid of ordinary physical attacks, the blood-colored palm had only swiped against his body once and had melted much of the gray fog over his body. If he had really been caught, he would probably have vanished into thin air.

  “What was that?” Li Xuan wrinkled his nose as he smelled a strong scent of blood.

  No one could answer him because no one knew the answer. The white-haired granny guarding the bridge might know the answer, but she didn’t say a word.

  Finding the Three-Lives Stone was more difficult than they had imagined. Currently, the only person who could enter the river was Jia Nong, but he couldn’t withstand the blood-colored hand.

  Lu Bushun said with a strange expression, “Legend has it that the River of Forgetfulness is the dividing line between life and death. There are countless wraiths lingering between life and death in the river. As those wraiths can’t cross the Bridge of Forgetfulness, they can’t reincarnate. They can only wander in the River of Forgetfulness forever. If a living person comes to the River of Forgetfulness, they will pull them down to replace them. From there, they can escape the restrictions of the River of Forgetfulness and obtain the chance to reincarnate. Was that blood hand from before a kind of legendary wraith?”


  “What you said is a scapegoat in myths. You can obtain a chance of rebirth by finding a substitute to replace yourself,” An Sheng said.

  “Yes, a scapegoat. Could that bloody hand be that thing?” Lu Bushun nodded.

  “I don’t know, but from the looks of it, we can only think of a way to resolve it if we want to find the Three-Lives Stone,” An Sheng said as he stared at the river.

  “Commander Jia, only you can enter the river now. I can only request you make another trip to lure it out,” An Tianzuo said to Jia Nong.

  “Yes sir.” Without any hesitation, Jia Nong entered the River of Forgetfulness again.

  This time, he was rather careful, but he couldn’t sense the blood-colored hand ahead of time. It was only when An Sheng warned him that he could escape in time.

  When the blood-colored hand appeared, Lu Bushun and the other officers immediately attacked it. Essence Energy of different attributes struck the blood-colored hand, scattering it.

  However, in the blink of an eye, the scattered sanguine aura condensed again, turning into a blood-colored hand that drilled back into the River of Forgetfulness.